Interview "Proof" Situation

F

flower989

Registered Users (C)
have an inquiry, I don't know if any of you have been to the interview yet, but possibly you can help or offer some advice:

My husband and I had been dating for about 2 years, and I came to visit in February and he asked me to marry him. And since I had just quit my crappy job before the trip we decided to spontaneously go and get married in the courthouse with some friends. Needless to say with no reason to go back to Canada, and a decent amount of savings, my mom shipped my clothes and I moved in with him. Now, with the background said, here is my question, he and I really have no joint accounts since I dont have a SSN, and I cant be put on the lease since he's subletting from a friend who's travelling. So what form of proof could we really provide at the interview? We have a credit card in both of our names, and are hoping to get a joint bank account if my EAD comes quickly enough. But besides pictures (which there are a million of) and we have a few old flight itineraries, any ideas of what we could bring to the interview? I guess since our getting married was spur of the moment we never thought to save old emails etc.

A few suggestions I've gotten so far:

401K/Benefits/Life Insurance: He's a consultant so has no benefits :confused:
Taxes: Got married in March and his taxes were filed already, and I've never worked in the U.S.
Auto Insurance: We could do that, but since I'm not 25 until next year it will double lol
AAA/Costco Membership: Can definately do that
Affidavits from friends: Anyone have a template or can they just write a simple letter and have it notarized?
Wedding Ring Receipt: Husband threw it out with other paper bits :mad:

Also since we got married without family there and only a few friends at the courthouse we're planning a big wedding in October in Canada so I've got receipts for that.

Any help would be great. Thanks!!!
 
No Panic

From my own experience I can tell you that Immigration Officer are not interested in photographs, not even if you had a big wedding reception. They are just seeking for proof of your bona fide marriage, which you may well know...

So I encourage you to get as many joint documents as possible. These were the ones that worked for me.

Rent/Lease - Tell your friend who's subletting to do an affadivit and notarize it. This really should help as this shows you live together.

Insurance - Either Car, Life, or Health, Try to have one of this.

Joint Bank Account - You do not need SSN o get a bank account so make sure you open our joint account or join your husband's account.

And that's what I presented and was approved in 20 mins.
 
This is also my experience. My interviewer told me that photos are "too easily faked", and that they didn't accept email as proof. However my joint bank statement and car insurance did nicely.
 
My IO, on the contrary, was very interested in photographs - she looked at ALL the pictures we had. I guess, it depends on the IO's personal preference :)
 
Alright so we've looked into it and we can open a bank account, just not with his bank (citibank) since they require a state i.d. and a ssn. And adding me to the insurance should be a breeze. The friend we're subletting from is impossible to get ahold of since he's travelling in some pretty remote areas, could we get some affidavits or letters from friends as a sub-in for the lease?

Once again thanks for your help, I just want to be prepared when I go in.
 
Jewel12 said:
My IO, on the contrary, was very interested in photographs - she looked at ALL the pictures we had. I guess, it depends on the IO's personal preference :)
Click to expand...
Yes, of course. There is no official guidelines that say photos are not accepted. Perhaps our IO had seen one too many "posed" photographs, and had decided not to bother any more.

Really the best evidence you can bring to the interview is your demeanor.
 
Each officer has his/her own "litmus test" to check for bonafide couples. My marriage based AOS interview was really short and straight forward. I came to the US on a K-1 as a Pakistani-Canadian and married a Pakistani-American. As soon as we entered the officer's room, I saw my wife's and my G-325s infront of him. After the oath taking and sitting down, this is how the interview went:-

Officer (to me): First marriage?
Me: Yes
Officer (to my wife): First marriage?
Wife: Yes
Officer (to me): Any kids?
Me: No
Officer (to my wife): Any kids?
Wife: No **with a chuckle**
Officer: Yeah, you guys don't do that
Officer (looking through the G-325s): All four of your parents from the same state in India?
Me: Yes
Officer: That's all I need to know. I'll approve this case as soon as I get your A-file.
***File never made it to Boston DO by the time I was interviewed. I was approved 89 days after the interview***
 
Ditto to everything most people mentioned here.

Below are things we included as Support evidence.
My wife & I did not have Joint Credit cards or Joint Bank Account at the time.

  • Joint accounts Phone / Internet/ & Electricity Bill in Both Names.
  • Joint IRS Tax return Proves Co-mingling of finances /Legit marriage
  • Airline ticket stubs from traveling to & From USA / Japan
  • Receipts for wedding Rings.
  • Letters & Postcards Post dated as far back as 13 years
  • We also had an entire folder of Pictures ( which our IO did look at only out of curiosity about Japan)

As Dr-LHA mentioned most of the interview is about meeting the couple face to face, seeing how you interact with your spouse. The IO knows within the firts 5 minutes weather or not to further investiagte the legitimacy of the marraige.
Asking for evidence just part of routine protocal, it all will get filed away and is an afterthought once the IO sees you as a couple.
Our IO Approved us at the interview & Decided to hold the approval for 2 weeks (Our @ year Marriage anniv. was 2weeks following our interview date) so when it went through we would be approved for a 10 year GC, so to justify him holding it for 2 weeks he asked us to send him some additional evidence that really wasn't neccesary but it enable dus to get the LPR.
2 weeks following the interview he sent our approved case forward and she received 10 Year GC.


Relax & Be Real, Everything will work out fine!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
My advise is to get as many joint document as you can. No matter what shows both your and your husband's name including ultitly bills, phone bills. Immigration officer really doesn't care about photos. She even didn't ask for that.
 
Hi Flower989, you don't need to be that nervous. As you are newly married, they can understand why there are not lots of joint things.... wedding isn't a big issue, many people they got married without a wedding. Be calm and peaceful, true will be true! My officers checked my photos and left some for their record, they approved my case! Don't worry! Keep the credit card statement and your travel receipt, photos, whatever you can get... Good luck! I even didn't have a formal wedding, we only celebrated our own, it's fine!
 
my pictures showed we travelled to a lot of places, hawaii every year, miami, new york, other countries. together... it can help!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top